A Quick Float Plane Flight In X-Plane 11

I’ve had several viewers request a float plane flight in X-Plane 11. I did several in P3D, and liked it a lot, so here’s one in XP. Nothing serious or realistic about this flight – I even forgot to turn on the avionics. It was fun, including the low approach over the boats, but I do miss the sound of the water against the pontoons that I had in P3D.

xEnviro Weather Transition (And Kalispell To Great Falls In 2:48)

In my last point-to-point video it took about an hour to fly from Kalispell to Great Falls. Here I’ve compressed that video so the flight takes just two minutes and forty-eight seconds. I did this to better illustrated the very natural transition that xEnviro created from overcast with limited visibility to clear skies. Pretty amazing.

The music? It’s just for fun. As always, thanks for watching.

PilotEdge Realism

There’s an interesting thread taking place in the PilotEdge forums. Among the responses this caught my eye:

As an instrument-rated commercial pilot and former CFI, I can tell you that IF you can function with ATC on pilot edge for either VFR and IFR flights, you will be able to function with ATC in the real world. There are NO operational or procedural differences between PE and RW air traffic control … The very first time I flew an IFR flight on PE, I did not consult any PE training documents or watch any videos. I just did it exactly the same way I would do it in the real world, and it worked fine.

That’s a pretty awesome testimonial to what Keith Smith and team have built at PilotEdge.

Point To Point: Kalispell To Great Falls

This is the most recent in my “point-to-point” series. In this flight we move the Saratoga from Glacier Park to Great Falls, MT. This flight has some awesome scenery over the top of the Rockies, and xEnviro does a pretty remarkable job with the weather as well as we go from broken /overcast to clear skies during the flight. I enjoyed this one, if for no reason than the view. I hope you like it, too, and thanks for watching.

Great New Website And An Amazing Home-Built Garmin 530

OTG reader and forum contributor Frank Mignone (“Spankybus” in our forums) has a new website, and it’s beautiful. What’s more, it highlights the working Garmin GSN 530 (for X-Plane) he just made for himself. It’s amazing work. Well done, Frank. You show what’s possible in one’s own workshop.

The I-4 Rating On PilotEdge

We follow up the fail/pass sequence of the I-3 with the I-4 rating on PilotEdge. This is “Dealer’s Choice,” where the controller picks a destination and you must identify, file, and fly the correct TEC route. I get SNA to SMO, and I pass, but not cleanly. There are a lot of learning experiences along the way and several complicating things that happen (like broken transmissions from ATC) that could easily happen on a flight in real life. I’m glad to have flown this, and am now studying SIDs and STARs for the I-5. As always, thanks for watching.

PilotEdge I-3 Failure

One of the things I love out PilotEdge is its training programs: the CAT ratings for VFR ATC procedures and the I ratings for IFR ATC procedures. I’ve completed the original V ratings (now retired) and most of the CAT ratings, as well as the first two I ratings. In this flight I attempt the I-3, which is an IFR TEC route flight from John Wayne to Burbank. I fail it, for many good reasons. It was an interesting learning experience so I thought I’d share it.